New York procedural guides

Plain-English guides to the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules, each one tied to the rules it relies on. Every rule named in a guide has its own page with the official text.

• Served in New York: is it 20 days or 30? It depends on how they served youCPLR 320 sets 20 days for in-hand service and 30 days for most other methods — including deliver-and-mail, the method most often used. Here's how to tell which applies.
• Vacating a New York default judgment: CPLR 5015, CPLR 317, and which one fitsCPLR 5015(a)(1) gives one year from service of notice of entry. CPLR 317 gives a different route — up to five years — to a defendant who wasn't personally handed the summons.
• New York summary judgment: the note of issue starts the clock, and 120 days ends itCPLR 3212(a) ties the summary-judgment deadline to the note of issue — 120 days unless the court sets an earlier date. Late motions need leave on good cause shown.
• The New York 90-day demand: what CPLR 3216 requires before a case can be dismissed for delayCPLR 3216 lets a court dismiss for failure to prosecute — but only after three conditions precedent, including a written demand giving 90 days to file a note of issue.
• New York discovery sanctions: CPLR 3126's threshold, and why "wilfully" does the workCPLR 3124 lets you move to compel. CPLR 3126 supplies the sanctions — but only against a party who refuses to obey an order or wilfully fails to disclose.
• The New York motion to dismiss: eleven grounds, one motion, and three different waiver rulesCPLR 3211 allows one pre-answer motion on any of eleven grounds. Which ground you pick decides whether it survives being left out — and one of them has a separate 60-day trap.
• Amending a New York pleading: three windows under CPLR 3025(a), and what leave requiresCPLR 3025(a) gives one amendment without leave through any of three separate windows. After that, leave is "freely given" — but the motion must attach the proposed pleading marked up.
• New York TROs and preliminary injunctions: no expiry date, a mandatory undertaking, and vacatur without noticeCPLR article 63 puts no fixed expiry on a temporary restraining order, requires an undertaking before a preliminary injunction issues, and lets a restrained defendant move to vacate without notice.
• New York discovery deadlines: twenty days, almost everywhereThe CPLR runs on 20 days — to answer interrogatories, to object to a document notice, and as the minimum notice period for production. It is the shortest set in the country.
• Serving a New York summons: deliver-and-mail, nail-and-mail, and the ten days that followCPLR 308 sets five methods of serving a natural person in New York — and for two of them, service is not complete until ten days after proof of service is filed.
• New York statutes of limitations: six, three, two and a half, and oneNew York's CPLR limitations periods run six years for contract, three for personal injury and property damage, two and a half for medical malpractice, and one for the intentional torts.
• Reargue or renew in New York: two different motions, one of which has a deadlineCPLR 2221 splits post-order relief into reargument — 30 days, no new facts — and renewal, which requires new facts and a reasonable justification for not offering them the first time.
• The New York bill of particulars: thirty days, and objecting to one item doesn't buy time on the restCPLR 3042 gives thirty days to respond to a demand for a bill of particulars — and objecting to some items does not excuse responding in full to the ones you don't object to.
• The New York notice to admit: twenty days, a sworn response, and silence admitsCPLR 3123 deems every matter admitted unless the responding party serves a sworn denial within twenty days — and an unreasonable refusal to admit can carry the cost of proving the point.
• Quashing a New York subpoena: ask the issuer first, and move promptlyCPLR 2304 requires a motion to quash a subpoena to be made promptly — and where the subpoena is not returnable in a court, you must first ask the person who issued it to withdraw or modify it.
• Enforcing a New York money judgment: 10% of gross, and two bank restraints a yearNew York caps an income execution at 10% of gross income and limits a creditor to two restraining notices per year on a natural person's bank account.

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